Straczynski Project Watch

The Current Status of Each of JMS's Ongoing Projects

J. Michael Straczynski, Babylon 5's creator, has many other projects that are worthy of investigation. In fact, he is a serious workaholic.
He is like a skilled juggler keeping all of the projects in the air at the same time.

This page keeps tabs on the current status of each of his ongoing projects. As each project is completed, it will be retired from this page.

Projects with Dedicate Pages

The following current ongoing projects have individual dedicated pages at Worlds of JMS.

Warner Bros. will be producing new Babylon 5 programs. The title is Babylon 5: The Lost Tales. There will be individual,
self-contained stories, some from notes that Straczynski recently rediscovered. The format will be short films of 40 - 45 minutes.
They will be distributed direct to DVD with two episodes and some supplementary material appearing on the first disc to bring the total running time to two hours per disc.
A network is interested in airing them also. Straczynski will write, direct, and have complete creative control.

The DVD with the first two stories will be titled "Voices in the Dark". Straczynski originally wrote three scripts for this DVD (of 25 - 30 minutes each) focusing on
Sheridan, Lochley, Galen, and Garibaldi. However, as preproduction began, Straczynski decided that the he had set too much on his plate for a new director.
The more challenging Garibaldi story has been put off to a (hopeful) second DVD, and the other two stories will be expanded so that the total running time remains
the same. The production offices in Vancouver officially opened on 23 October 2006. Filming began on 14 November 2006, and the shows was shot in high
definition with digital cameras.

Straczynski notes that his scripts for this show, which he will eventually publish, are far more detailed than his Babylon 5 scripts,
essentially incorporating his directorial notes.

The three episodes will visit Mars, Minbar, Babylon 5, Earth (where Straczynski promises a "rather startling sequence"), the future, and the distant past.
The shows will introduce a new kind of Minbari cruiser. It is unknown which venues are unique to the postponed Garibaldi story.
Straczynski will shoot each segment a little differently so that each episode is complimented by its own unique visual style.
There will be some pivotal scenes that cross the two episodes on the disc. The CGI effects will be re-imagined to
make use of modern technology.

Straczynski's cut (without CGI) was turned in to the studio on 08 December 2006. Atmosphere (the effects house for Battlestar Galactica)
provided the CGI, and Chris Franke provided the music. The final DVD has been delivered to Warner Bros. as of mid-April 2007.

Video blogs from Straczynski recorded during production will begin to appear online shortly.

Universal Pictures and Imagine Entertainment have purchased J. Michael Straczynski's thriller The Changeling. Ron Howard will produce
the film, and Clint Eastwood will direct it. Angelina Jolie stars as a mother who prays for the return of her kidnapped son. When her prayers
are answered, however, she begins to suspect the boy who comes back is not her child. John Malkovich also stars.
Ron Howard's selection of this script catapulted Straczynski
to the A-List of Hollywood Writers. Straczynski submitted his final draft of the script by the first week of September 2006. Filming was completed
in December 2007. It should be released in 2008.

Straczynski has written a big-budget historical action film based on the life of King David for Universal. He suggests thinking along the lines of
Braveheart or Gladiator. Akiva Goldsman is involved as one of the producers.
Straczynski has completed this screenplay.

Straczynski adapted the novel World War Z as a big-budget film for Paramount and Brad Pitt's
Plan B Productions. Straczynski's first draft of the script was met with very positive reaction. The latest draft was turned in mid-August 2007,
and it has been sent out to directors, to whom the studio is currently making offors. They are still searching for an A-list director.

Straczynski has written the script for a feature film starring the Silver Surfer. He turned in the final draft before the beginning of the
writers' strike. The film is being fast-tracked and is expected to be released in 2008.

Straczynski wrote the screenplay for They Marched into Sunlight from an outline by Paul Greengrass. Greengrass will direct.
The story is based on based on the historical novel by Pulitizer Prize-winning author, David Maraniss. It focuses on the effect that two events - the
loss of 61 American soldiers in a Viet Cong ambush and a student protest against Dow Chemical - had on the opposition to the Vietnam War on
college campuses. It is being produced by Tom Hanks' company. Straczynski delivered the script before the beginning of the writers' strike.

Straczynski is working with two film makers on a new science fiction television series. Straczynski won't reveal his collaborators' names, but he
says that they have created some of the biggest SF movies in the last twenty years and that any three of their movies added together have a box office
gross of over two billion dollars. They have created the show and written the first three scripts. Straczynski says that the show will
revolutionize the form. The project went to the networks for auction in September 2007. A sizeable offer would be required
to fund this ambitious project. Many were interested in the project but were hesitant because it could be considered controversial and weird.
An apparently firm proposed offer was derailed by the start of the writers' strike.

Straczynski and the other two creators decided to finance the project themselves, beginning with a ten-hour miniseries. By doing this
they will protect themselves from being forced to compromise on any creative issues.

Mongoose Publishing has secured the rights to release new Babylon 5 novels. A disagreement erupted when they began falsely publicizing
Straczynski's involvement. After several exchanges, Straczynski decided to give Mongoose a second chance in order to ensure through his involvement
the quality of Babylon 5 products being offered to fans. However, when the first manuscripts were delivered to him, Straczynski judged them
to be amateurish and unprofessional. Therefore he has severed his relationship with these novels and will not endorse them.

Straczynski wrote one of the first scripts to be produced for ABC's Masters of Science Fiction series. The series features
stories by "big name" authors adapted for the screen by "big name" writers. "Watchbird" was adapted from Robert Sheckley's story.
However, by the time production began, the script had been rewritten to extent that Straczynski removed his writing credit, saying
that the final draft was more properly credited to Sam Egan.

Straczynski had originally agreed to be the show-runner. However, delays in the negotiations between the producers and ABC pushed production
so late that it conflicts with Borrowed Lives, so he had to decline.

J. Michael Straczynski developed a series for the Sci-Fi Channel called Polaris.

This project began life in February 2001. Work on it was postponed until late June 2001 due to Straczynski's heavy workload. The contracts
were finally signed in early September 2001. Straczynski turned in at least two scripts including one for a two-hour pilot.

Polaris made it to the final three candidates to be picked up by the Sci-Fi Channel. Unfortunately, Straczynski announced in January 2003
that Polaris was turned down for being "too science fictiony". After the turnaround period has expired, Straczynski plans to take the project
elsewhere. On 01 April 2003, Straczynski said that another studio might be showing strong interest in Polaris.

Straczynski says, "I've kept the basic story line of Polaris under lock and key because it's the kind of thing which, once you hear it, you know
instantly why the Sci-Fi Channel picked it up to develop, even though it's a fairly pristine area inside the genre, and I'm trying to keep competition
to a minimum for now."

Dream Police is now in development with a film studio, not one of those interested in Midnight Nation or Rising Stars.
Straczynski has turned in a detailed outline for the feature. The studio is now looking to pair up the material with the
right director so they can take it out formally to the film marketplace. They are negotiating with Straczynski to write the script.

Delicate Creatures is a hardcover graphic novel that Straczynski describes as "a fantasy book with teeth". Each two-page spread
of this prose and poetry story features elaborate artwork by Michael Zulli and colored by Steve Firchow.

This book is published by Top Cow. It was released on 16 January 2002 with a cover price of $16.95. The initial print run is limited to
16,000 copies.

Straczynski is writing a standalone Babylon 5 graphic novel for the Wildstorm division of DC Comics.

Straczynski originally planned to write a story that takes place before "War Without End" featuring both Sinclair and Sheridan and involving Mars,
Minbar, Babylon 5, and a conspiracy. However, he later considered the option of writing a story that ties Babylon 5, Crusade,
and Legend of the Rangers together. Regardless of the plot, Straczynski promises that it will be something that the fans want to see and that
it will be something that works best in the graphic novel medium instead of on television.

The book will be about 100 pages long and will probably be released in hardcover. The artist has not been selected yet.

Since this book was already under contract, it is not prohibited by Straczynski's exclusive deal with Marvel Comics.

In December 2005 Straczynski reported that the script was half complete. In May 2006, he reported that the graphic novel is still going ahead
"in starts and fits."

Straczynski recently wrote a science fiction / horror short story entitled "The Darkness Between the Stars." It will appear in
Book of Dark Wisdom, an SF/horror magazine.
It should appear in either Issue 6 or 7.

Joe Straczynski has been preparing a new book titled But In Purple I'm Stunning: Quotations from Babylon 5.
This volume includes fan choices for favorite quotes along with anecdotes about what those quotes mean to the fans.
It was intended to be published under Byron Preiss' ibooks imprint at Simon and Shuster. However, since Preiss' untimely death,
Straczynski has pulled the book from that publisher. He is considering releasing it through the same venue as the
Babylon 5 script books.

Simon & Schuster is publishing a shared universe series called J. Michael Straczynski's Distant Stars. Straczynski created the
Distant Stars universe. Other writers and novelists have been invited to create novels in this universe to be published under
Simon & Schuster's banner. Unfortunately, Straczynski may not have time to write any contributions himself. The writer for the first
novel has been selected.

Joe Straczynski signed a deal with iBooks/Simon and Schuster to republish all of his prior works of fiction, making them available both
online and in major bookstores. This includes the novels Demon Night, OtherSyde, and Tribulations and
a collection of Straczynski's short stories entitled Straczynski Unplugged. This volume includes include a number of
Straczynski's Twilight Zone stories, other previously published stories such as "Say Hello, Mister Quigley," "Cold Type,"
"We Killed Them in the Ratings," and "The Salvation of Lyman Terrell." Demon Night and Straczynski Unplugged are now available.
Othersyde is due in September 2004. and Tribulations is due in December.

Joe Straczynski and Chris Carter (The X-Files) were developing a Straczynski idea called The World on Fire. The complex
negotiations required the participation of several parties. At the very last minute, Fox backed out of the deal. Carter's most recent project,
Harsh Realm was cancelled, and Fox blamed this on the fact that Carter had developed it from someone else's idea. Fox wanted Carter's
next project to be 100% his.

Straczynski is no longer marketing The World on Fire as a series. The story was about America's next war that begins with an attack on
New York City. With the events of September 11, 2001, the real world has already overtaken Straczynski's fiction.

WB has begun making inquiries to Straczynski about doing a Babylon 5 DVD trivia game, but it's still very much in the preliminary
discussions stage. It would mainly utilize existing footage from the series and TV movies.

Straczynski has been quietly working with Warner Bros. on the distribution of Babylon 5 material on AOL and wireless phones.
He has consulted on the editing down of various parts into differenty-sized bites. Customers can select "make me laugh" and "thrill me" segments
(the elevator scene in "Convictions" being one, and a big Narn/Shadow fight for the latter) of 3 to 4 minutes, "Tell me a story" which is 12 minutes
long on average, being an a- or b-story pulled out on its own, and of course "show me an episode."

Straczynski wrote an audio drama called The Adventures of Apocalypse Al. It was produced as short five-minute episodes, and there are either 12 or 20 episodes.
It's comedy / action, very noir, with a supernatural bent. Straczynski describes it as, "Monty Python Meets The Maltese Falcon En Route To the End of the World".
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation produced it, and Straczynski participated in Toronto. The show is complete, and it will be broadcast in
Canada and, like all CBC productions, it will be syndicated worldwide, to the Sirius Satellite Radio, NPR, BBC, and elsewhere,
as well as released on CD eventually. The program has not aired yet due to the difficulty of scheduling twenty five-minute episodes in the
same time slot on four consecutive weeks.

In late September 2007, Straczynski stated that "another production entity has stepped in to pick up Apocalypse Al."

City of Dreams was supposed to be a 13-episode audio drama anthology series, but only eight episodes were released. Straczynski
wrote it for SCIFI.COM's Seeing Ear Theatre. Anyone with a RealAudio player can listen to it for free.

The last episode was "The Alpha and Omega of David Wells", released on 1 February 2000. There are annotated links to the
episodes on the City of Dreams web site.

JMS turned in the scripts for three additional episodes, including one titled "Dream Police". Unfortunately, the Sci-Fi Channel pulled its
financing for most of its audio dramas.

Joe Straczynski was working on a new novel that he describes as "more of a mainstream book". He is about half-way through as of early
September 2001 with over 200 pages written. Straczynski spends much more time crafting the words of a novel than he spends on a script.
He rewrote the first 100 pages 20 times. Unfortunately, the events of his novel were very similar to those that came to pass on September 11, 2001.
Therefore he has discontinued work on this book.

Straczynski's computer suffered a fatal hard drive crash in October 2006, and he may have lost much of his work on this novel.

Joe Straczynski has been working on a medieval play titled Among the Ruins for quite some time. He placed it on the back burner in
July 2003, but in June 2004 he reported that he had made substantial progress. In December 2008 he stated that the play is about three-fourths
done and has been that way for over a year. He isn't sure if it is as good as he thinks it might be, so he is considering
hiring some actors, geting a small space, and holding a staged reading of what's there to see how it sounds.